Community Engagement

Palo Alto has long been a leader in sustainability, adopting one of the first municipal climate action plans in the U.S. in 2007, delivering carbon neutral electricity, and partnering with our community to develop a vision for an innovative, carbon neutral city of the future. Poised to take the next step as a climate and sustainability leader - with one of the boldest municipal climate goals in the country - Palo Alto is on the right path to achieve a prosperous, resilient city for all residents, thanks in part to the contributions of hundreds of community members.

The City of Palo Alto held a community summit on January 24, 2016 that brought together more than 500 engaged and committed citizens who worked on the challenges of water, energy, and transportation. Their ideas fed into a draft Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (S/CAP) that laid out a general framework and proposed a bold goal: a reduction of 80 percent of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions below 1990 levels by the year 2030. This far exceeds the state of California’s world-leading reduction goals of 80 percent by 2050 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 – something Palo Alto has already almost accomplished by reducing GHG emissions 36 percent. A recap of the event can be found here.

Climate Ideas Expo: November 18, 2014

In support of the S/CAP the City hosted an interactive “ideas expo” to invite ideas from the community to help advance the City’s sustainability goals. This dynamic event introduced the S/CAP and highlight global best practices and municipal advancements in sustainability. Community members shared their ideas and proposals to help accelerate the pace of change in Palo Alto. And to help answer the question: What can a small, innovative city contribute to the sustainability revolution? We also invited your ideas through the City’s online discussion forum, Open City Hall. Click here for a summary of the ideas shared on Open City Hall.

Key themes that emerged during the evening include strategies to enable:

Fuel switching to cleaner fuels (e.g., electricity)

Transportation shifts away from personal vehicles

Innovative financing approaches

Behavior change and community engagement

Click here to see a summary of the workshop. A list of presented posters can be found here.

Get Involved

To stay up-to-date on the latest sustainability news and be the first to hear about community engagement opportunities, join our mailing list here.